


we're really not so different after all

by millenialuddite



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - The Breakfast Club Fusion, F/M, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22744186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/millenialuddite/pseuds/millenialuddite
Summary: After a series of transgressions and at the behest of Assistant Principal Pryde, five very different students meet in detention on a Saturday morning at Crait High. Together, they will confront their troubles, doubts, and everything in between as they unveil parts of themselves that no one else has seen.---The modern-day Breakfast Club AU no one asked for. Happy 35th anniversary to this classic!
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. 06:45 am

As the brakes of the 2008 Honda Civic finally wheezed in front of the school, echoing loudly through the long silence between the three people sitting inside, Rose’s hand flew to the lock of the backseat door.

“Not so fast,” her mother’s voice rang, making Rose freeze in place, one hand clutching her messenger bag, the other stationed atop her only means of escape. For the first time since _the incident_ , she looked up from the ground to her parents’ direction, from her father’s hands gripping the wheel with white knuckles to her mother’s tense shoulders. It was what she had expected to see after avoiding the sight for this long.

One thing Rose Tico learned how to do ever since she was little was to read her father. She knew what he wanted to say from a frown, from a look, from a touch, even from a sigh. There were happy frowns, like when he watched Paige recite her valedictorian speech under the bright morning sun, and angry frowns, like when she told him she wanted to take Political Science. Then there were his proud looks, like when Rose got first place at the science fair in elementary school, and his sad looks, like when they got that call from _bà_. Rose’s hair got plenty of soft touches before they left for school, as he tried to subdue her bouncy curls, while Paige’s arm bore the brunt of the tight ones, like when he had found her strolling hand-in-hand with a girl at the park. And then there were the relieved sighs after Rose handed him her report cards and his frustrated sighs when her sister got home after 2 am, drunk out of her mind.

He didn’t have to say anything to Rose for her to know how he felt. He wasn’t even looking at her through the rearview mirror. But there was another set of eyes that pierced through the glass so harshly Rose honestly believed it could break.

Rose had no problem with reading her mother. The woman was an open book and made sure her children knew what she was thinking at all times. If it was good, anything she sad was followed by a _but_. _But why didn’t you get an A+_? _But you could have tried harder_. _But you’re getting fat_.

And if it was bad, it was _bad_. So, as always, Rose braced herself for the tongue-lashing, steeling her ears so anything she said would pass right through them.

“We will be here at 4. Don’t be late.”

That was not at all what she had expected to hear. At the same time, it was all there, through the tears bubbling up in her eyes and threatening to spill out, through her quavering words and the stiff shove with which she handed Rose her lunch. Somehow, that was even worse.

“That’s _it_?” said Rose in frustration, and part of her wished she could have swallowed her words. Her mother whipped her head back toward her, and her disappointment shifted into something Rose was unable to describe, but it made her take a sharp intake of breath. It was as if it wasn’t Rose her mother looked at, but someone else. Suddenly, she felt as if a drop of cold water was running down her back, so she quickly hopped out of the car without saying goodbye and ran towards the entrance.

As her right foot found the first of ten steps to Crait High’s door, she craned her neck back, seeing nothing but an empty parking lot. Closing her eyes, she clutched her Haysian gold medallion and swallowed the lump in her throat.


	2. 06:51 am

Finn rested his forehead against the front door window, and as his father’s car rolled up to the school, his eyes, once staring straight at the scenery, forcibly fell upon the building. He shut them, half to avoid the sight, half because he felt a yawn creeping in. The vanilla latte in the cupholder had done nothing to reduce his sleep deprivation.

Hurriedly, his hand ghosted over his front jean pocket, looking for the phone to check the time, and he nearly felt that drop-of-the-rollercoaster feeling when he found nothing. Finn was so used to fiddling with the device for the past ten years that lately, his brain would go into panic mode whenever he was reminded of its existence — or rather, non-existence. Thankfully, this time, his mind was getting quicker to rescue him, an impressive deed, given the early hour.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” said his father, as he turned off the engine that made the BMW purr. Finn shook his head, less vigorously than he would have liked, but pointedly enough. The implication that Finn did not want to be seen walking up into Saturday detention with a parent by his side was there. Still, if his father noticed, he was too polite to comment on it.

“I could talk to Pryde, maybe get you regular detention after class, so you don’t have to-”

“Thanks, but I wanna get this over with today,” said Finn, readying himself to unfasten his seatbelt and leave the car as soon as humanly possible. When he gripped the buckle, his father’s pale hand suddenly engulfed his.

When Finn was very young, he once asked his mom why he did not look like his parents when all of his friends did. Even then, he could tell she had expected that question because she had sat him down and patiently explained to him that Finn was born without a family, and since the Storms could not have children, their family adopted him. As any five-year-old would, Finn would soon get distracted with something substantially more inconsequential, but that moment got burned into his memory. Ever since then, Finn started to notice how much he stuck out.

Everywhere he went with his parents, Finn would take notice of these things, small, insignificant moments — from raised eyebrows at the mall to whispers from neighboring restaurant tables. The kids were more obvious — they would bombard him with questions at the playground or point their sticky fingers at him as their parents picked them up from school. And he endured them, quietly, politely, as he was taught.

As tiny and as insignificant they might have seemed to most, those little things piled up, and Finn carried them around whenever he went. Even though his parents tried to share the burden as much as they could, with time, Finn learned that he needed to thicken his skin and use the weight of all these little things to make him stronger.

However, there were times when he still felt like that little five-year-old boy who had stared at a family photo for a little too long, wondering if there was something wrong with him.

“Dad, I- I’m truly sorry for- I didn’t-”

_Shit_. He couldn’t say it. For days he meant to say it, but whenever he tried, his heart would quicken, beating so hard it could jump out of his throat. Finn pinched the bridge of his nose as his brain tried to will his tongue into coherence. Maybe there _was_ something wrong with him after all.

“I know. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Letting out a slow breath, Finn placed his right hand over his father’s, not quite able to look him in the eye yet. After his chest no longer felt as tight, Finn unlocked the car door with a quick _see you later_ and stepped out of the vehicle.

“Do you have your lunch with you?”

Finn raised his bento box in confirmation before shutting the door with a cheeky smile. His father made a point to lower the window and call out to him, as he did each and every morning, with a different positive or inspirational feeling for the day, to which Finn would always roll his eyes. What was it going to be today, _have fun_?

“Try to have fun!”

Of _fucking_ course.


	3. 06:57 am

Although Ben’s ears were comforted by the familiar incessant drums and screeching guitars of his favorite metal band, they were unable to drown out his mother’s voice. During the whole trip from his home to the school, Ben had tried pressing the volume up button on his phone a couple of times for good measure, even singled out a few louder songs, all to no avail.

At this point, with the car pulling up to the school where he would spend the next nine hours in absolute boredom, Ben would need to face the music, so he paused the song and hung his headphones on his neck. 

“What did the mayor say?” said Leia.

Ben looked over at his mother, who had been on the phone long before he woke up. Every election season, Threepio would call her five minutes after her alarm went off and only hang up when she saw him at work hours later. It was hard for Ben to remember a time when his mother had no bags under her eyes and no Bluetooth headsets in her ears.

“No, I will be speaking to him, but this week I will be- yes.” Leia glanced at him, and somehow, even though he was unable to hear her trusted campaign manager, he knew he was the subject of the conversation. What was worse is that his mother had had several of these conversations _about_ Ben with many other people. Except him.

Yesterday, during a call, she had closed the door to her study and lowered her voice to a hush. The day before, she had quickly shut her laptop closed when he entered the living room. The day before that, she had gone to visit his father in Boston. Now, she averted his eyes and reached for her phone, tapping away.

“Yes, next Thursday.”

It wasn’t unusual for Ben to feel… _misplaced_. Like he wasn’t supposed to be there. Like he doesn’t belong. That feeling that made him company him ever since he was a little child. But lately, that feeling stirred up something else inside him.

Faintly, he heard his blood start pumping in his ears. The hands that had been, all this time, unconsciously picking at the scabs on his knuckles, started sweating. _Not again_.

“What about catering for the fundraiser, was that ever sorted out?”

Leia’s voice snapped Ben back and he caught himself digging his nails in his palms. Swiftly, he picked up his Fjällräven backpack, opened up the car door, and left without a word, making sure to shut it with a loud bang. Ben put on his headphones and pressed play once again. This time, with the music and the growing distance between him and his mother’s car as he took off toward the school, he finally couldn’t hear her voice anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short, late and not sweet. It's a national holiday here in Brazil, and I was spending some time with the family, hence the lateness. I hope y'all had a great weekend! :)


	4. 07:01 am

Every Saturday morning, Rey would bring Klaus some shiny knickknack she might have either found on the side of the road, collected from an unsuspecting bystander, or made from scraps herself. Then, he would unlock the large double door to the school and let her hang out in the library by herself until the end of the day — a rather simple agreement with a rather simple janitor. Then why, after giving him the most delightful feather earring she ever made, were there _three other people_ in the room?

Fifteen minutes ago, she had been walking from the fiction section towards the reading area with the armchairs, holding a copy of _Infinite Jest_ in one hand and _Naked Lunch_ in the other, when a girl wearing a beanie casually strolled into the library.

A girl. At six in the morning. At school. On a Saturday.

The girl had entered with her head down, cleaning her glasses with her “ _girls just wanna have fun-damental rights_ ” shirt, and almost tripped on the tricky little step that divided the VCT floor from the grey carpet. Fortunately, Rey managed to avoid being seen by sidestepping into one of the last tall shelves as the girl collected herself.

The girl had plumped down into one of the center tables and rested her forehead on top of her arms, her vintage glasses lying half-forgotten by her side. A million possibilities as to why she was there rushed through Rey’s head. At first, what had manifested as the most likely scenario was that she had scheduled a gathering of some sort, a study group or a book club, and got in early to set things up.

Only she was not setting anything up. The girl with the beanie was just sitting there. Rey tightened her grip on her books when she noticed how the girl’s shoulders seemed to shake a little. Then, she heard a muffled sob. _Oh_. That scene was all too familiar to her.

The school library was the only place where Rey could afford any sort of privacy, as opposed to the overcrowded Jakku Orphanage she refused to call home and Plutt’s, where she had to spend most of her free time during weekdays. She reveled in the novel stillness and the freedom granted to her by this place. But sometimes, the silence of the empty halls crept in and enveloped her mind and body with such force that there was nothing left for her to do but hug herself and cry.

Before Rey could decide whether or not to reveal herself to the girl in the least startling way possible, she suddenly raised her head and rummaged through her leather bag, taking out a hand mirror. With a deep breath, she aimed the mirror at her eyes and dried her face with the sleeves of her turtleneck undershirt. Then it dawned on Rey that the last thing this girl would want is for anyone to know she had been crying by herself in the library on a Saturday morning.

In almost perfect timing with the _click_ of the hand mirror shutting close, a boy in a stylish white coat walked in. He exchanged a wordless nod with the girl, who sat straighter at the newfound company, and settled at the front table. What kind of club was this? Rey watched as the boy undressed his coat and folded it neatly, then packed it into his backpack.

The two occupants of the tables were, unbeknownst to them, in the middle of a strange stalemate with Rey. The fact that they did not talk to each other at all for several minutes only increased the tension of the situation as Rey’s brain wracked itself to understand what the hell was going on and what she should do aside from pathetically stare at these people from behind books. And then, just as Rey was about to come out once and for all, another person came into the room.

This one Rey knew. As much as one could know a certain Ben Solo, captain of Crait’s basketball varsity team. Rey had tried out for the women’s team two years ago as a freshman and that was as far as she got. After her fiasco at tryouts, she attended as many games as she could to soothe that small part of her that wanted to be on the court with one of the best teams in the country.

Solo had stopped short at the sight of the other two. The other boy said something Rey could not quite catch, to which Solo responded with something that sounded like _what’s up_ as he landed on the chair next to the boy.

Once again, silence reigned.

In truth, Rey was starting to enjoy being an onlooker to this strange gathering. Solo and the boy spoke to each other, and to Rey’s dismay, she was too far to hear what they were saying. Maybe whatever words they exchanged could elucidate her on what was happening. By now, she half expected to witness anything from an impromptu musical routine to a satanic ritual.

Yet nothing could have prepared her for the real thing: vice-principal Pryde, in all his checkered tweed glory, marched in, one hand around a cup of coffee, the other inside his front pocket. The man sported the same superior look he always did, a quirked brow and high chin, and this time, a proud smirk that slowly died as he took in the room. He raised his left hand and checked his watch, then swung his head back to check the wall clock above the door.

“Where’s Dameron?”

**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimers** : This is the first fic I'm posting. Also, English is not my first language, so let me know where I can improve. If you feel like talking, reach out to me at my [Twitter](http://twitter.com/millenialuddite) or [Tumblr](http://millenialuddite.tumblr.com)! I promise I'll be nice :)
> 
> My work was partially inspired by [this post/prompt](https://leavekyloalone.tumblr.com/post/150282478893/breakfast-club-au-hear-me-out) and [these pictures](https://green-apple-juice.tumblr.com/post/177617244336/young-beautiful-maybe-college-au) I found while lurking.
> 
> I plan on updating on Saturdays and Wednesdays. If I don't, I will serve a double update as an apology. Or a punishment, depending on your perspective.


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